A win for clean air, climate resiliency, and green space equity.
Salt Lake City Voters Voted in Favor of the Salt Lake City, Utah, Parks and Recreation Bond Measure.
A Green space win!
This past summer, Utah experienced record temperature highs, increased ozone pollution, and ongoing extreme drought conditions, leaving many Utah residents questioning how to mitigate and adapt to our ongoing climate crisis.
As we look forward to solutions, many experts and community members have highlighted that these extreme climate change effects disproportionately impact historically underserved communities.
Under-resourced neighborhoods have historically lacked investment in accessible and safe green spaces. This lack of green space worsens the effect of what is known as “urban heat islands,” which increase energy costs (e.g., for air conditioning), air pollution, and heat-related illness and mortality.
Salt Lake City’s West Side includes Rose Park, Glendale, West Pointe, Fairpark, Poplar Grove, and People’s Freeway. Many of these west side neighborhoods are where Salt Lake City’s Black, brown, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities reside and are formerly redlined areas.
To limit the impacts of our current climate crisis from being disproportionately felt in primarily BIPOC and low-income communities, there must be an investment in green infrastructure and accessible green spaces in under-resourced neighborhoods.
A step in the right direction.
On November 8th, 2022, Salt Lake City residents voted to approve issuing $85 million in general obligation bonds for parks, trails, open space, and related recreational facilities and amenities.
With this funding, Salt Lake City plans to fund eight significant projects, including:
- Constructing a new Glendale Regional Park at the old Raging Waters waterpark site on 1700 South.
- Creating new parks in Glendale and the Granary District, including playgrounds and trails.
- Completing the connection of the Folsom Trail to the Jordan River Parkway Trail and adding landscaping and additional trail amenities to improve east/west connections.
- Increasing the City’s tree canopy and plant biodiversity and restoring natural landscapes in parks and open spaces that use less water and are adapted to our arid climate.
Our team is excited to see investment in parks, trails, and other green spaces in historically neglected areas and will continue to advocate + support smart growth solutions.
Learn more about this exciting news by visiting: slcparksbond-deagis.hub.arcgis.com/